Tuesday, July 20, 2010

My favorite tools from this training are 'photostory' and 'google.docs.' Photostory was fun (and relatively easy) to use and I think students would like to make a photo book report about one of their books. I especially like 'google.docs' to use for team planning.

I am amazed at the number of technology tools that can be utilized during a lesson. I think my classroom learning will be more fun for the students using these tools to supplement their activities.

Unexpected outcome from this training? I am excited and actually looking forward to incoporating more technology into my planning, instead of being 'afraid' to try it! :)

Friday, July 16, 2010

Understanding 'digital citizenship' is a huge part of all technology use! After reading about the different facets of digital citizenship, it perhaps should be the first thing we think about before using any internet site/device. When I first started this blog, being digitally safe was one of my main concerns.

Students using technology as part of their overall learning should definitely be taught about digital citizenship. Three things about digital citizenship I would want to make sure students know about are: digital security(personal safety), law (responsibility and respect), and etiquitte (netiquette:). I would teach these through modeling and explaining that even in the digital 'world' we are responsible for our safety and actions.; our 'community circle' becomes vastly larger on the internet, but same societal rules apply.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

I reviewed some math and language arts apps: math drills, alphabet/phonics/spelling.I downloaded a few on my Iphone to practice. I thought the 'math drills lite' was good because it showed a number line to help explain the problem. I also liked the immediate feedback that these apps had. However, a few of the free apps were only short samples. If you wanted the full app, you had to buy it.

I think students (of all ages) will love to use the ITouch/Pad in class. If it is like the Iphone, it is relatively easy to use. In my classroom, I would probably use these for warmups or independent practice.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Wow!........both of these are pretty amazing, although very confusing to someone who has never used them before. The Skype reminds me of the old Jetson cartoons when George could see Mr. Slate or his wife, Jane, when they called him!

Jing: The screencast on Jing could be used for students to practice problem-solving skills. A sample of the steps of the problem-solving model could be made and the students could follow along with it to solve their own problems. They could view it as many times as they needed.

Skype: If students had access to Skype communication, this could be used to actively communicate with other students or teachers on projects/assignments. The direct access to authors, or other professionals, to make presentations in the classroom is awesome (given the connections and necessary equipment). I think students would like to use Skype to 'take a field trip' anywhere in the world and then write about it or make a photostory:)

Monday, July 12, 2010

This tool is totally new to me, but I can see how it would be very useful to include videos in your lessons to supplement your teaching. Videos can appeal to visual and auditory learning styles and help demonstrate objectives and expectations.

Searching for the videos was a bit challenging - there seems to be many duplicates and some had 'ads' that were connected to the video.

I chose these two videos/songs to use in my classroom for the upcoming year, both from YouTube: The Mini-book Song and I Can Write My Numbers.

"The Mini-book Song" - YouTube

This video gave me the idea of having students make a video or photostory reading log after reading a set number of books to show their progress at a certain level.

"I Can Write My Numbers" - YouTube

I would like to use this video at the beginning of the school year to refresh student handwriting skills and/or counting of numbers. The students could watch the video, practice making the number 'in the air' or actually write them on whiteboards.

I love the 'EMBED' feature on YouTube for these videos, but I did have help from my son!

Friday, July 9, 2010

I really like photostory and have (crudely) used it in the past for student projects: illustrating student stories and word problems. I would like to use it more in the classroom for introducing new concepts and/or reinforcing strategies. Hint: the more I use it, the easier it gets! I guess that's true for all technology...

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

When I viewed the training video for the use of a Wiki in the classroom, it seemed very similar to Google.docs (Tool 4) as far as creating a page that can be collaborated on and edited by others. It would be useful for team planning of activities. I like the idea of creating a story or poem and have students add to or edit it for fun. I might also use it for a type of 'scavenger hunt' where students would have to research different items related to a topic and write about their findings on a wiki page to share with others.

Personal note - All of these tools seem very interesting and could be utilized in the classroom, but at this point in my Tool training they are starting to 'overlap' a bit.